Impressive! What a smashing story. So I take you now have the weapon?
Btw, do you have a VHS player?
Mine died, so I don't know why I still have VHS tapes lingering around.
Dad and I kept it going till it couldn't go anymore. We had the top open and we would fiddle with a few things inside of it to get it going each time we watched a movie lol
Unless you have home movies and/or just appreciate the "look" of them... VHS players are around $50 or so but there's little point if you don't have a HDMI output to upscale to a flatscreen OR an old CRT. The upscale isn't "quite" the same but it's pretty close to a CRT (tube TV)
That type of VCR will cost you $100+
Most people don't want to keep around a CRT
just for VHS nor do they want to buy an expensive one.
I haven't seen a top-loading since pre-2012 lol.
Definitely a niche thing but you'd be surprised.